1952-1956 Imperial
Presidential Parade Car

from Old Cars Weekly, April
2001

"'52 Imperial in
The Auction ads really is a '52, even though it looks like a '56"

Several
Old Car Weekly readers saw a full-page auction ad in our March 29
issue advertising the '52 Chrysler Imperial Presidential Parade Car
shown below as one of the vehicles that will cross the block at The
Auction in Las Vegas on April 21-22, 2001.To prove how carefully subscribers
view and read even small photos and brief descriptions in Old Cars
Weekly ads, several people called to say that the vehicle had '56
Imperial styling and assumed that the ad was in error. To clear this up, we are reprinting a section
from Bill Siuru's book Presidential Cars and Transportation that
tells the interesting history of the 1952 Chrysler Presidential cars.

Keller's
decision for the postwar phaetons was executed by

stylists Cliff Voss, chief body
engineer Harry Chesebrough and Virgil Exner, who fathered Chrysler's
"Forward-Look" of 1955. The '52 parade cars were built off of
a Crown limousine chassiswith its wheelbase extended two inches to 147.5 in.
In total, they were over 20 ft. long. The car's body panels were
handcrafted and completely unique. About the only stock items used were
the '51 Imperial grille and Imperial front and rear bumpers. The clean,
un-chromed lines and side sculpturing would greatly influence
Exner"s "100 Million Dollar Look" used on the '55
Chryslers and De Sotos.

The
Imperial parade car as it looked when displayed at the Auto Collection
at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. It is among the cars being offered
for sale at The Auction, which will be held in Building B at the
Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino April 21-22, 2001.

By
Bill SiuruIf the huge Imperial phaetonformerly displayed in the ImperialPalace Auto Collection in Las Vegas, could talk —
oh, what tales it could tell. The 1952 Imperial parade car, along with
its two almost identical siblings, carried many of the great world
leaders as well as many movie stars, astronauts, military leaders,
senators, governors, mayors and beauty queens. Four
United StatesPresidents — Eisenhower,
Kennedy Johnson and Nixon -waved at crowds from the spacious rear
cockpit. The phaetons have also carried the likes of Winston
Churchill, Nikita Khrushchev, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and
astronaut John Glenn. The parade phaetons were
originated by Chrysler chairman, K.T. Keller, in 1951. These were not
the first cars Chrysler ever built strictly for parade duties. The first
was a massive, six-wheel, '39 Derham-bodied, custom Imperial touring
car. The Imperial was followed by another Derham Imperial phaeton
in 1940 and later the famous '41 Newport dual-cowl show cars appeared.
Serving as New York City's official parade car, among other duties, the
'40 Chrysler Imperial phaeton carried General Eisenhower during a
traditional ticker-tape parade in June 1945, to celebrate Ike's
contribution to the World War II victory. The handcrafted car, made by
Derham, was used by New York City for more than 20 years and was finally
stored away in 1960.

The
parade cars were completely open cars, a feature that was only
acceptable because of the gentler, less violent times. In true phaeton
tradition, there were separate cowls and windshields for the front and
rear compartments. Like phaetons of old, there was an abbreviated
instrument panel for the rear seat occupants.

The eight-passenger vehicle had two
leather-upholstered bench seats and two fold-out jump seats stored in
the second cowl. The rear doors were of the "suicide" type and
all doors lacked exterior door handles since there were no side windows.
In the weight Dacron top, stored under the rear-hinged deck lid, could
be erected over the rear compartment. However, the driver was left to
the elements. This was strictly a "fair weather" car.
Reportedly, it cost Chrysler a mere $100,000 to develop the three
phaetons.All three cars were recalled in 1955
for a major update that incorporated many of the features of Exner's
"Forward Look" as seen on the 1955-'56 Imperials. The entire
front end was replaced with 1955 and 1956 sheet metal, bumpers, split
grille, Imperial eagle emblems and "Forward-Look" insignia. In
the rear, tail-finned fenders topped with the controversial gun-sight
taillights were grafted on. The middle section, doors and deck lid were
retained from the '52 version.

The '52 versions of
the parade cars used Chrysler's legendary 331.1-cid
"hemi-head" V-8. With the Firepower V-8's 180 hp, the almost
3-ton '52 versions were definitely underpowered. The '52 versions also
used a Fluid-Torque semi-automatic transmission and Chrysler's
pioneering Hydraguide power steering. They also used
"ahead-of-their-time" Ausco-Lambert disc brakes.

A
mechanical revamping came with the mid-'50s facelift. The cars' anemic
performance was greatly enhanced by changes such as a four-barrel
carburetor and a compression ratio increase. Depending on the
information source, the output was now 235- or 285-hp. A Powerflite
two-speed fully-automatic transmission was also added, but without the
push-button controls used on the '56 Chrysler products.The three cars were "loaned" to New York,
Detroit and Los Angeles. Each was trimmed differently. The New York car
is today painted black with a light gray interior. For Detroit's car the
original color scheme was metallic green with a natural pigskin
interior. The Detroit car — now white — is the one for sale in The
Auction. The Los Angeles car was originally cream with a red rose
interior and was redone in silver.

After being redone to 1956 style,
the cars were donated to each of the cities. About 10 years ago, the
black New York car was dusted off for an astronaut parade. It appears in
Jay Hirsch's book American DreamMachines.. Los Angeles
also still owns and sometimes uses the silver car.